Consumer Fraud Deadlines in California

Our consumer fraud practice page says the deadlines vary, and this guide shows why. One deceptive sale can support several different claims at once: a claim under the Consumers Legal Remedies Act, a claim under the Unfair Competition Law, a claim for fraud, a breach of contract claim and, for an older adult, a financial abuse claim. Each has its own deadline and its own rule for when the clock starts.

The practical rule follows from that: find every claim that might apply, work out each deadline, and plan around the earliest one. For injury deadlines in general, see how long you have to file a personal injury claim in California.

How do the deadlines work, step by step?

Fix the date of the practice. Write down when the sale, the advertisement you relied on, or the charge happened. The Consumers Legal Remedies Act counts from that date (Civil Code 1783).
Fix the date you found out. Write down when you first learned, or had reason to suspect, that what you were told was false. For fraud, the clock starts at discovery (Code of Civil Procedure 338(d)).
List each possible claim. A lawyer can match the facts to the statutes; the table below lists the common ones.
Calculate each deadline. Count forward from the right starting date for each claim.
Build in the 30-day notice. A damages claim under the Consumers Legal Remedies Act needs a written notice mailed at least 30 days before filing (Civil Code 1782), so the letter must go out well before the three years end.
File before the earliest date. A lawsuit filed in time for the shortest deadline protects every claim in it.

Which deadline applies to which claim?

Claim	Deadline	When the clock starts	Source
Consumers Legal Remedies Act (a practice listed in Civil Code 1770)	3 years	The date the practice was committed	Civil Code 1783
Unfair Competition Law	4 years	When the cause of action accrued	Business and Professions Code 17208
Fraud (intentional misrepresentation, concealment)	3 years	Discovery of the facts constituting the fraud	Code of Civil Procedure 338(d); CACI 1925
False Advertising Law, private case	No deadline in the law itself; the general 3-year period for a liability created by statute is the starting point	Not stated in the False Advertising Law	Code of Civil Procedure 338(a)
Breach of a written contract	4 years	When the cause of action accrued	Code of Civil Procedure 337(a)
Breach of an oral contract	2 years	When the cause of action accrued	Code of Civil Procedure 339
Financial abuse of an elder or dependent adult	4 years	When the plaintiff discovered, or with reasonable diligence should have discovered, the facts	Welfare and Institutions Code 15657.7

A small claims case uses the same deadlines: the court changes, but the claim and its time limit do not.

When does the clock start for a fraud claim?

For fraud, the law says the cause of action is not deemed to have accrued until the aggrieved party discovers the facts constituting the fraud (Code of Civil Procedure 338(d)). The Judicial Council's jury instruction on this defense, CACI 1925, lays out how it is decided. The business must first prove the harm happened more than three years before the lawsuit was filed. If it does, the consumer must prove that before that date they did not discover the facts constituting the fraud and could not have discovered them with reasonable diligence.

Discovery does not wait for certainty. A decision the Judicial Council cites under CACI 1925 describes discovery as learning of the fraud or of facts that would lead a reasonably prudent person to suspect fraud. Depending on the facts, a mechanic's report or a document that contradicts what the salesperson said could be that kind of fact. Writing down the date of the first warning sign matters.

The burden matters too. The Judicial Council's directions for CACI 1925 say the plaintiff bears the burden of pleading and proving delayed discovery. In practice, that means the complaint itself should say when and how the fraud was discovered and why it could not have been found sooner, and the documents behind those dates should be kept.

Why does the Consumers Legal Remedies Act deadline run from the sale?

The text of Civil Code 1783 is short: an action under the specific provisions of section 1770 must be commenced not more than three years from the date of the commission of the method, act or practice. Unlike the fraud statute, it does not mention discovery. A consumer who learns of a deceptive sale two and a half years later may have only months left for this claim, even though a fraud claim from the same facts has three years from the discovery.

The 30-day notice makes the real deadline earlier still. Our guide on the 30-day demand letter explains what the notice must say and how it must be mailed.

What about the False Advertising Law?

The False Advertising Law's general provisions and its enforcement sections (Business and Professions Code 17500 to 17509 and 17530 to 17539.6) do not set a filing deadline for a private case under section 17535. California's general rule gives three years for "an action upon a liability created by statute, other than a penalty or forfeiture" (Code of Civil Procedure 338(a)). Because the statute does not settle the point, the careful course is to treat three years from the advertisement you relied on as the outside limit for that claim.

The same advertisement is also "unfair competition," because the Unfair Competition Law's definition includes untrue or misleading advertising and any act prohibited by the False Advertising Law (Business and Professions Code 17200). A claim under that law has four years (Business and Professions Code 17208). Our guide on what counts as false advertising explains what each law lets you recover.

What changes the answer?

The person harmed is 65 or older. A financial abuse claim for an elder has four years from discovery (Welfare and Institutions Code 15657.7), and the Elder Abuse Act adds attorney's fees (Welfare and Institutions Code 15657.5). See extra protections for seniors in consumer fraud cases. The separate guide on elder abuse deadlines covers abuse and neglect claims as well.

Which law the claim rests on. The same facts can carry a three-year deadline that started at the sale (Civil Code 1783) and a three-year deadline that started at discovery (Code of Civil Procedure 338(d)). Choosing claims is partly a deadline decision.

A written or oral agreement. A written contract claim has four years (Code of Civil Procedure 337(a)); an oral one generally has two (Code of Civil Procedure 339), with exceptions the statute lists.

A complaint to a government office. Nothing in sections 1783, 17208 or 338 pauses the clock while a complaint is pending with an agency. Our guide on reporting a business to the District Attorney or filing your own claim explains why both can run at once.

The 30-day notice. The notice and the waiting period under Civil Code 1782 fall inside the three years, not after them.

What could this look like? An example

For example, imagine a Rohnert Park resident who buys a used car in March 2024 after the dealer's ad and salesperson say it has never been in an accident. In June 2026, a body shop finds a repaired frame and shows the owner records of a prior collision. Representing goods as original or new when they have been reconditioned is a practice listed in Civil Code 1770(a)(6), and the false statement may also be fraud.

The claim under the Consumers Legal Remedies Act runs three years from the March 2024 sale, to March 2027, and the notice must be mailed at least 30 days before filing. The fraud claim runs three years from the June 2026 discovery, to June 2029. The Unfair Competition Law claim has four years from accrual; treating the sale date as the start gives March 2028. Filing before the earliest date, March 2027, keeps all three claims available. This example is made up to show how the rules fit together; it says nothing about any real case.

What mistakes do people make with these deadlines?

Assuming the discovery rule applies to every claim, when Civil Code 1783 counts from the practice itself.
Forgetting that the 30-day notice has to fit inside the three years.
Waiting for a District Attorney, a licensing board or the business's customer service to finish before acting on a private claim.
Not writing down the date of the first warning sign, which can decide when a fraud claim started.
Planning around the longest deadline instead of the shortest.

What should I do this week?

Write a short timeline: the date of the sale or charge, the date of the ad or statement, and the date you first suspected a problem.
Collect the contract, receipts, ads, emails and texts that show those dates.
Count three years from the sale for the Consumers Legal Remedies Act, and mark a date for the notice letter at least 30 days earlier.
Count three years from discovery for a fraud claim and four years from accrual for the Unfair Competition Law.
If the person harmed is 65 or older, note the four-year financial abuse deadline too.
Talk with a lawyer before the earliest date on your list.

Frequently asked questions

Is there one deadline for "consumer fraud" in California?

No. "Consumer fraud" is a general term, and each law that covers it has its own deadline. The earliest applicable deadline is the one to plan around.

Does the clock stop while I try to work things out with the business?

The statutes in the table do not pause for negotiations. Keep talking if it helps, but watch the dates.

Is the small claims deadline different?

No. Small claims is a court, not a claim; the claim's own deadline applies. Our guide on small claims or a lawsuit for a consumer fraud loss compares the two.

What if I was charged repeatedly over several years?

Each charge may be its own transaction with its own date. A lawyer can sort out which charges are still inside each deadline.

Can the District Attorney recover my money after my deadline passes?

A public prosecutor's case is separate from yours, and a court in that case may order money restored to people harmed (Business and Professions Code 17203). Whether that happens depends on that case, so it is not a substitute for protecting your own claim.

Where can I read about elder financial abuse deadlines?

See how a family can recover money taken from an elder, which covers the four-year rule in more detail.

If you are not sure which consumer fraud deadline applies to you, contact Young Law Group today at (707) 343-0556 or through our contact page for a free consultation.

How long do I have to bring a consumer fraud claim in California?